The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently instituted a new aircraft certification for Light-Sport Aircraft. Section 1.1 of title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) puts forth the details of the new certification. Light-sport aircraft are simple, low-performance aircraft that are limited to 1,320 lbs. maximum weight, two occupants, a single non-turbine powered engine, stall speed of 45 knots, maximum airspeed of 120 knots, and fixed landing gear. Aircraft categories include airplanes, weight-shift-control aircraft, powered parachutes, gyroplanes, gliders, balloons and airships.
The FAA further instituted a new airworthiness certificate entitled Special Light-Sport Airworthiness Certificate. The details of this certificate are defined in section 21.190 of title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This new category of special airworthiness certificate is issued to aircraft that are designed and manufactured to an identified standard developed by industry and accepted by the FAA. These aircraft can be used for the following purposes: sport and recreation, flight training, rental and towing.
With regard to certification of pilots and flight instructors to operate light-sport aircraft, the FAA also recently created two new pilot certificates and two new aircraft category ratings to allow operations of light-sport aircraft. The sport pilot certificate and flight instructor certificate with a sport pilot rating are issued without any category and class ratings. Aircraft category, class, and make and model privileges are established through logbook endorsements.
The purpose behind the new FAA certifications is to introduce lightweight recreational aircraft that are geared toward the recreational pilot. It is predicted that this development will result in the spawning of a new industry that services lightweight sport aircraft and recreational pilots. More aircrafts will be seen in the sky and more pilots will be flying. This new development, however, will not come without its drawbacks.
Almost as soon as the new aircraft and pilot certifications emerge, so will safety issues. As a result of the new aircraft certification and the predicted low cost of producing light sport aircraft, there will be more aircraft on the ground and in the air. As a result of the new pilot certification, there will be more and lesser-trained pilots flying these aircraft in the skies. Further, there will be an increased number of novice pilots flying light sport aircraft. The increase in the number of aircraft in the air increases the potential for accidents during flight. The potential for accidents is further compounded by the reduced experience required of the new pilot certification. Additionally, these new aircraft will appear in areas previously not accessible by aircraft like boat marinas, grass fields, etc.
One possible type of design for a light-sport aircraft is an amphibious design. Amphibious aircraft operate on land or water. For land operations, an amphibious aircraft includes conventional wheeled landing gear that must be retracted for water operations. If this landing gear is inadvertently left deployed when the amphibious aircraft lands on the water, the aircraft can be damaged and will likely flip over and submerge. The possibility of this occurrence happening increases with the emergence of larger numbers of beginner or novice pilots controlling amphibious aircraft. Currently, there is no commercially available system for handling the inadvertent deployment of landing gear during water landing and preventing the resulting flipping of the amphibious aircraft.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for a way to more efficiently control landing gear of an amphibious aircraft.